Open Data Revolution to Fight Global Hunger

USDA-NRCS rangeland scientist Emilio Carrillo uses an open data mobile app called LandPKS for sustainable land use management.

Every day, people around the world use data to make decisions. When heading out of town, most of us use weather apps to check the forecast anywhere in the world before packing our bags. However, when we travel to far-flung places, we may find ourselves packing food from home because we don’t know what may be available when we arrive. We have a global, comprehensive, open data set that enables weather forecasting, but not something similar for food and agriculture?

In his first public remarks as head of USDA, Secretary Sonny Perdue noted that “…we want to make decisions based on facts and evidence,” “we want to be data-driven,” and “I need good data, I need good sound science to make decisions on…”

USDA recognizes that farmers, ranchers, and consumers alike – use data daily, from deciding when to plant, harvest or sell their crops, when to turn out cattle to pasture, or where to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. This is why it is important that data be made available, open and accessible, to facilitate the best-informed decisions.

Around the world, a movement called the “open data revolution” is under way to make data available for public use. This movement is expected to generate new insights, drive better decision-making, and enable governments, civil society, and the private sector to better target interventions and programs.

All of this is why the U.S. Government, led by USDA, was a founding partner of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative and why it continues to support the advancement of open data for agriculture and nutrition around the world. Now with over 500 partners, GODAN continues to support the sharing of available, accessible, and usable open data for agriculture and nutrition to help ensure global food security.

If we’re going to feed over 9 billion people by 2050, we need open data policies to make decisions based on facts and evidence. This global perspective will help identify data already available and data gaps that exist, and sharpen the focus on how open data can foster innovation and collaborative research, creating whole new kinds of growth around the world.

Introducing New Rural Housing Data from USDA

For the first time, USDA’s Rural Housing Service is publicly releasing data across every program area in which the agency provides loans, guarantees, and grants—multifamily housing, single-family housing, and community facilities. This set of data will bring stakeholders and the public unprecedented insights into rural housing program delivery, impacts, challenges, and opportunities across the country. It will be updated regularly, so check back frequently for the latest release.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services

This monthly report provides national trade data including imports, exports, and balance of payments for goods and services. Statistics are also reported on a year-to-date basis. Data are continuously compiled and processed. Documents are collected as shipments arrive and depart, and are processed on a flow basis.

Seattle Real-Time Fire 911 Calls

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Financial Services Consumer Complaint Database

The Consumer Complaint Database contains data from the complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on financial products and services, including bank accounts, credit cards, credit reporting, debt collection, money transfers, mortgages, student loans, and other types of consumer credit. The database contains over 100,000 anonymized complaints and is refreshed daily. Data available about each complaint includes the name of the provider, type of complaint, date, zip code, and other information. The CFPB does not verify the accuracy of all facts alleged in the complaints, but takes steps to confirm a commercial relationship between the consumer and the identified company exists.

Data in Action: Combatting Fraud

One company uses big-data analytics to find grey charges on users’ credit cards and debit cards by drawing upon billing dispute data from the web, banks, and the CFPB’s open consumer complaint database.

Product Recalls

The Safety community contains product recall data from around the Federal government. It includes recalls related to cars and many different kinds of products – from household products to outdoor, sports, and recreation products to child-related products.

Montgomery County Employee Salaries

Salary information for all active, permanent employees of Montgomery County, Maryland, as of January 15, 2013. This data will be updated annually. This is presented as an interactive, easy-to-explore dataset.

Financial Services Consumer Complaint Database

The Consumer Complaint Database contains data from the complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on financial products and services, including bank accounts, credit cards, credit reporting, debt collection, money transfers, mortgages, student loans, and other types of consumer credit. The database contains over 100,000 anonymized complaints and is refreshed daily. Data available about each complaint includes the name of the provider, type of complaint, date, zip code, and other information. The CFPB does not verify the accuracy of all facts alleged in the complaints, but takes steps to confirm a commercial relationship between the consumer and the identified company exists.

Data in Action: Combatting Fraud

One company uses big-data analytics to find grey charges on users’ credit cards and debit cards by drawing upon billing dispute data from the web, banks, and the CFPB’s open consumer complaint database.

Join the Third Annual Safety Datapalooza Livestream

From 10:50 – 11:30 AM ET, the Innovation for Disaster Response and Recovery Initiative will be featured during a panel moderated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Panelists from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Data.gov team will discuss recent technology and innovation milestones, #opendata efforts, and opportunities for public engagement.

This year’s Safety Datapalooza will provide an overview of ongoing programs as well as new commitments. Senior government representatives will join innovators from private, nonprofit, and academic organizations, sharing examples of projects that have used freely available government data to build products, services, and apps that advance public safety in creative and powerful ways.

The event will include new safety data resources in the areas of transportation, food, occupational, and consumer product safety, as well as tools to improve disaster preparedness and emergency response.

Follow @SafetyDataGov on Twitter and #SafetyData #DisasterTech for the latest information about the event and ongoing efforts.

Launching Disasters.Data.Gov to Empower First Responders and Survivors with Innovative Tools and Data

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Open Badges

Open Badges is an innovative infrastructure that allows colleges and industry organizations to award micro-credentials (badges) to students who demonstrate proficiency in specific competencies. A student may earn a particular competency badge by demonstrating prior experience, or by participating in courses or informal learning experiences. Because the technology behind the badges is open, a learner can collect badges from any number of different organizations and showcase them in one single place.

Hourly information on U.S. electricity supply, demand, and flows now available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

To a federal statistical agency like the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there’s nothing more satisfying than providing needed information that can facilitate more informed analysis and policy decisions on a national and regional level. EIA recently launched a new U.S. Electric System Operating Data tool, which provides hourly electricity operating data, including actual and forecast demand, net generation, and the power flowing between electric systems. The tool features nearly real-time demand data, plus analysis and visualizations of hourly, daily, and weekly electricity supply and demand on a national and regional level for all of the 66 electric system balancing authorities that make up the U.S. electric grid.

The information is collected directly from each interconnected electric system on the EIA-930 survey, the first hourly data collection conducted by a federal statistical agency. Although electric system balancing authorities covering most of the United States have released voluminous public, nearly real-time information on grid operations since the late 1990s, EIA’s U.S. Electric System Operating Data tool expands the availability of data to the entire contiguous 48 states, and makes it available in a consistent format from a single source.

Among other applications, the data can be used to provide timely information on electric system recovery after power interruptions and to help evaluate the effects of renewable energy, smart grid, and demand-response programs on power system operations. The tool allows you to visualize and analyze:

Total U.S. and regional electricity demand on an hourly basis

The hourly flow of electricity between electric systems

The wide variety in electric systems’ daily demand shapes and the seasonality of daily demand patterns

The extent to which electric systems rely on internal and external sources of supply to meet their demand

APIs from the Energy Information Administration

The Energy Information Administration collects statistics on energy generation, distribution and consumption in the United States. Their new APIs provide developers easy access to EIA’s extensive data on electricity, petroleum, natural gas, and more.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Small Business Lending with Open Data

Data in Action: Bringing Capital to Main Street

Open data is helping bring capital to Main Street businesses. For example, one fast-growing lender is combining data from a wide range of government sources to make working capital loans to small businesses. Using open data on industry-level economic trends, the company is able to build finer-tuned predictive models. Another data analytics startup is working with banks to unlock insights about businesses from new government sources. Critical data about businesses are buried in unexpected places. For example, it is possible to estimate the number of employees a given company has based on existing, publicly available data about participants its retirement plan.

Federal Student Loan and Financial Aid Open Data

The Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid delivers aid to students, including through federal loan, grant, and work-study programs. There is extensive data available related to these programs, including information about over 6,000 individual colleges and postsecondary institutions. For example, there is data available on cohort federal student loan default rates by school, lender, state, and institution type.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

AirAtlas: Air Quality in National Parks

AirAtlas is a series of web maps that show estimated air quality statistics for atmospheric deposition, ozone, and visibility in the contiguous U.S. The maps also show National Park Service (NPS) units and monitoring locations for each of those air pollutant categories. Specific estimates of each statistic are available for every NPS unit in the contiguous U.S.

The USGS Earthquake Hazards program has everything you ever wanted to know about earthquakes and more — from maps to tips to trivia to data in a multitude of formats, serving everyone from your neighbor to your neighborhood scientist. The USGS locates about 50 earthquakes each day and 20,000 a year, and 75 million Americans in 39 states live in places that are at risk of earthquakes. Where do you live?

Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index: Proof of Concept

The index tracks change in women’s empowerment that occurs as a direct or indirect result of Feed the Future interventions in targeted geographic zones within the initiative’s 19 focus countries. Data for the WEAI will be collected every two years in all 19 countries, and baselines were collected in 2011 and 2012. USAID and partners will conduct data analyses to understand the relationships among empowerment, livelihoods, and food security, as well as relationships among the various components of the index.

Hospital Charge Data

Data are being released that show significant variation across the country and within communities in what providers charge for common services. These data include information comparing the charges for the 100 most common inpatient services and 30 common outpatient services. Providers determine what they will charge for items and services provided to patients and these charges are the amount the providers bills for an item or service.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program produces data on job openings, hires, and separations, providing an assessment of the availability of unfilled jobs, and information to help assess the presence or extent of labor shortages in the United States.

EPA Consent Decrees

What are the latest actions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act? The EPA Consent Decree dataset provides updated information on EPA enforcement actions to stop violations of environmental laws. The settlements and consent decrees dataset provides full information about the location of the violation, the company involved, the settlement terms and penalties, and the health and environmental benefits that will result from the enforcement action.

Local Severe Weather Warning Systems in Missouri

Montgomery County Employee Salaries

Salary information for all active, permanent employees of Montgomery County, Maryland, as of January 15, 2013. This data will be updated annually. This is presented as an interactive, easy-to-explore dataset.

Federal R&D Facilities for Entrepreneurs and Innovators

As part of the Administration’s Lab-to-Market initiative, agencies are publishing machine-readable data on over 700 Federal R&D facilities that may be utilized by entrepreneurs and innovators to research, prototype, and test new technologies. These facilities, operated by NASA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute of Health (NIH), include cutting-edge research tools and together represent billions of dollars of taxpayer investment.

Each facility has its own set of use policies, so a contact person is included in the data wherever possible. For example, some entrepreneurs may be able to access NASA’s National Center for Advanced Manufacturing to produce the high-strength, defect-free joints required for cutting-edge aeronautics, or DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for collaborative projects in additive manufacturing, composites and carbon fiber, and other leading clean energy technologies. Learn more…

Manufacturing and Construction Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau collects a variety of statistics on the manufacturing industry in the United States, including shipments, inventories and orders, energy consumption, plant capacity, exports, and more.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is responsible for investigating reportable marine casualties, accidents, and serious marine incidents. The relevant mission statement and specific regulations can be found on the USCG Investigations Division homepage. After an incident has been reported, it is entered into a national database of all marine casualty and pollution incidents. These important historical records can then be accessed by researchers interested in understanding maritime safety, accident prevention, or trends in certain types of maritime incidents through time. Other agencies interested in maritime transportation performance measures rely on the USCG data to examine incident trends on U.S. waterways. Files for the Marine Casualty and Pollution Data for Researchers datasets can be downloaded directly from the U.S. Coast Guard Homeport website by following the drop-down menu options on the homepage Missions: Investigations: Marine Casualty Pollution Investigations page at https://homeport.uscg.mil/missions/investigations/marine-casualty-pollution-investigations.

As described by the USCG, “the Marine Casualty and Pollution Data files provide details about marine casualty and pollution incidents investigated by Coast Guard Offices throughout the United States. The database can be used to analyze marine accidents and pollution incidents by a variety of factors including vessel or facility type, injuries, fatalities, pollutant details, location, and date. The data collection period began in 1982 for marine casualties and 1973 for polluting incidents, and is ongoing. Documentation includes entity and attribute descriptions along with suggested solutions to general marine pollution, vessel casualty, and personnel injury and death questions.”

Visitors to the USCG Homeport data download site should note that there are three files available fore download, but it is the second file on the list (named MISLE_DATA.zip) that contains all available marine casualty data from January 2002 – July 2015. The files extracted from MISLE_DATA.zip can be opened with most standard spreadsheet editing software programs.

U.S. Coast Guard closed and open incident investigations, 2002 through 2015 (part year).

By the numbers: port statistics for some of the largest U.S. ports

As intermodal connectors for domestic and international freight, our nation’s ports serve a critical role in numerous supply chains and the national economy. In recognition of this importance, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (P.L. 114-94; Dec. 4, 2015; 129 Stat. 1312) established a Port Performance Freight Statistics Program within the U.S. Department of Transportation: Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The first annual Port Performance Freight Statistics Program report provides descriptive statistics for a group of ports for year 2016, including the top 25 ports in terms of total tonnage, twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and dry bulk tonnage. The report is available to download at https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/PPFS_Annual_Report.pdf

The 2016 Port Performance report used multiple sources, including public datasets featured on Data.Gov. One foundational dataset used in the report is the total commercial tonnage carried on waterways published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is responsible for investigating reportable marine casualties, accidents, and serious marine incidents. The relevant mission statement and specific regulations can be found on the USCG Investigations Division homepage. After an incident has been reported, it is entered into a national database of all marine casualty and pollution incidents. These important historical records can then be accessed by researchers interested in understanding maritime safety, accident prevention, or trends in certain types of maritime incidents through time. Other agencies interested in maritime transportation performance measures rely on the USCG data to examine incident trends on U.S. waterways. Files for the Marine Casualty and Pollution Data for Researchers datasets can be downloaded directly from the U.S. Coast Guard Homeport website by following the drop-down menu options on the homepage Missions: Investigations: Marine Casualty Pollution Investigations page at https://homeport.uscg.mil/missions/investigations/marine-casualty-pollution-investigations.

As described by the USCG, “the Marine Casualty and Pollution Data files provide details about marine casualty and pollution incidents investigated by Coast Guard Offices throughout the United States. The database can be used to analyze marine accidents and pollution incidents by a variety of factors including vessel or facility type, injuries, fatalities, pollutant details, location, and date. The data collection period began in 1982 for marine casualties and 1973 for polluting incidents, and is ongoing. Documentation includes entity and attribute descriptions along with suggested solutions to general marine pollution, vessel casualty, and personnel injury and death questions.”

Visitors to the USCG Homeport data download site should note that there are three files available fore download, but it is the second file on the list (named MISLE_DATA.zip) that contains all available marine casualty data from January 2002 – July 2015. The files extracted from MISLE_DATA.zip can be opened with most standard spreadsheet editing software programs.

U.S. Coast Guard closed and open incident investigations, 2002 through 2015 (part year).

Roundtable on Open Data for Economic Growth

On July 25, 2017, the Executive Office of the President Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will host a Roundtable on Open Data as a driver for economic growth. Here’s why we’re focusing on this opportunity—and how you can help us.

Open data is free, publicly available data that anyone can access and use without restrictions. U.S. Federal Open Data is a strategic national resource. American businesses depend on this government data to optimize their operations, improve their marketing, and develop new products and services. Federal Open Data also helps guide business investment, foster innovation, improve employment opportunities, and spur economic growth.

The value of Federal Open Data to the United States has been estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Commerce calculates that internet publishing, consulting and market research firms use this data to generate more than $200 billion in revenues each year. Other studies have found that U.S. weather, GPS, Census, and health data support billions more in revenue in other sectors.

How do companies use government data to build their business?

Finance companies use a wide variety of data types to evaluate credit, guide investments, and quantify risks, including the risks of lending to individuals or businesses.

Healthcare companies tailor Precision Medicine treatments to individual needs, while others empower patients to find the best care at the best price by using data on hospitals, medical groups, medicines, and patient outcomes.

Consumer retailers use GPS and weather data to improve shipping along supply chains. They also use Census data to target their marketing, choose new business locations, and identify consumer trends.

Transportation and trade companies use Federal data to make transportation more efficient, improve safety, and facilitate trade.

The Roundtable on Open Data for Economic Growth will emphasize how companies create value from and leverage freely available government data. Leaders in government and industry will explore the economic and societal benefits of Open Data for American businesses and entrepreneurs.

This Roundtable methodology may be applied to other topics, for example, how Federal Open Data improves:

Return on investment for taxpayer dollars, and Federal spending

U.S. government efficiencies

Data-driven government and evidence-based policy

We welcome your input. If you have suggestions for this Roundtable or future topics, please email datagov@gsa.gov

Water Column Sonar Data Collection

NOAA collects and uses active acoustic (or sonar) data for a variety of mapping requirements. As the national archive for multibeam bathymetric data, NGDC manages over 15 million nautical miles of ship trackline data from sources worldwide. In 2011, NGDC, in partnership with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), initiated a new archive for high resolution data collected with sonars capable of mapping the water column.

Water column sonar data are collected on NOAA fishery survey vessels and academic and international fleets, and are used to assess the physical and biological characteristics of the ocean. Primary uses include 3-D mapping of fish schools and other mid-water marine organisms, assessing biological abundance, species identification, and habitat characterization. These data are also useful for evaluating underwater gas seeps, remotely monitoring undersea oil spills, and bathymetry.

NGDC is working with scientists at NMFS and the Joint Hydrographic Center to ensure the long-term preservation and world-wide dissemination of these data.

Maritime Limits and Boundaries of the United States

NOAA is responsible for depicting on its nautical charts the limits of the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea, 24 nautical mile Contiguous Zone, and 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The outer limit of each of these zones is measured from the U.S. normal baseline, which coincides with the low water line depicted on NOAA charts and includes closing lines across the entrances of legal bays and rivers, consistent with international law.

Product Recalls

The Safety community contains product recall data from around the Federal government. It includes recalls related to cars and many different kinds of products – from household products to outdoor, sports, and recreation products to child-related products.

Federal R&D Facilities for Entrepreneurs and Innovators

As part of the Administration’s Lab-to-Market initiative, agencies are publishing machine-readable data on over 700 Federal R&D facilities that may be utilized by entrepreneurs and innovators to research, prototype, and test new technologies. These facilities, operated by NASA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute of Health (NIH), include cutting-edge research tools and together represent billions of dollars of taxpayer investment.

Each facility has its own set of use policies, so a contact person is included in the data wherever possible. For example, some entrepreneurs may be able to access NASA’s National Center for Advanced Manufacturing to produce the high-strength, defect-free joints required for cutting-edge aeronautics, or DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for collaborative projects in additive manufacturing, composites and carbon fiber, and other leading clean energy technologies. Learn more…

Food Price Outlook

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food is a component of the all-items CPI. The CPI measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative market basket of consumer goods and services. While the all-items CPI measures the price changes for all consumer goods and services, including food, the CPI for food measures the changes in the retail prices of food items only.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Expanding access to Arctic data and tools

(Sep 2, 2015) The Administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) to include a new “Arctic” theme. The Arctic theme will encompass more than 250 Arctic-related datasets (32 of which are being made available for the first time), and more than 40 maps, tools, and other resources designed to support climate-resilience efforts in Alaska and the Arctic, including seven “Taking Action” case studies in key areas of climate-change risks and vulnerability for Alaska and the Arctic. The Administration also recently expanded the CRT to include a new “Tribal Nations” theme, comprised of more than 40 resources—with more to be added in the future—to assist Tribal nations in climate-change planning, adaptation, and mitigation. Resources include a comprehensive Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit, and a set of guidelines for considering traditional knowledge in climate change initiatives. These datasets and resources are now cataloged on, respectively,climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, making them easier for innovators, decision makers, and interested members of the public to find and use. In addition, the Administration is engaging the private sector around the CDI and CRT to help accelerate the development and deployment of products, tools, and applications powered by open Arctic data to help Alaskan and other northern communities better understand their vulnerability to, and prepare for, the impacts of climate change.

Microsoft Launches “Innovation Challenge” around Food Resilience

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge. Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Weather Service Data

The National Weather Service provides weather, water, and climate data, forecasts and warnings. A National Mosaic view of National Weather Service (NWS)’s radar imagery allows interactivity with the display providing you with the ability to customize the way you “look” at weather. Called RIDGE2 (Radar Integrated Display with Geospatial Elements, version 2), the radar image can be layered with geospatial elements such as topography maps, highways, state/county boundaries, and weather warnings. Outside of this interface, a user can also make use of this radar mosaic image overlay to add to user’s geobrowser of choice.

See this data in action at:

The Weather Channel broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news over their cable channel and web properties.